


Marvelous Suit, Darling

by kristin



Category: Southland
Genre: Alternate Universe, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-09
Updated: 2011-03-09
Packaged: 2017-10-16 19:37:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kristin/pseuds/kristin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>According to the briefings Riptide had a tendency to get away at the last minute. No way that was happening on her watch. Invisibility might be relatively useless in combat situations, but she could keep clinging onto the cape. AKA a Superhero AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Marvelous Suit, Darling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mjules](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mjules/gifts).



“Halt!” Dewey’s voice was rough as it reverberated against the rooftop walls behind her. It was still echoing as she reached out, grabbing at the edge of Riptide’s cape. Trust a fucking criminal to think stacking their supplies into a labyrinth would be a fun time.

She clenched her hand hard around the slick fabric. It caught up against her gun callouses. Chickie wrapped the cape more firmly around her wrist. Luckily it was a big flappy thing, yards and yards of fabric. Fucking super-villains were all vanity and style. She didn’t even think he’d noticed her added weight.

“Such a fucking liability,” she said quietly as she dug her feet down, trying to get some traction against the bricks. _Fuck._ She shouldn’t have said that out loud. What was the use of being invisible if you broadcast your location?

“Is that you my invisible rose?” She could feel the pressure as Dewey stretched what he better fucking hope was an arm around her side to help hold onto Riptide.

“Shut the fuck up,” Chickie panted. According to the briefings Riptide had a tendency to get away at the last minute. No way that was happening on her watch. Invisibility might be relatively useless in combat situations, but she could keep clinging onto the cape.

Riptide had noticed them now. At least she assumed so, the way he was throwing what looked suspiciously like a grenade over the next pile of shit. His arm moved up and out in a practiced maneuver, making the cape ripple.

She willed her hand visible for a split second and pointed in the direction it flew. Chickie watched as Dewey sped across the roof, his limbs unfurling to step over the walls of boxes. She guessed that was what Riptide was doing too, because he sure wasn’t watching his own step.

She couldn’t decide if it was still funny. Alright, she knew it had been fucking hilarious. That this could have been a great story, the way he flailed as he fell off the roof, arms windmilling.

It would have been, if not for the fact that when she reached out to try to save him (because villain or not, she was supposed to be a fucking hero) the cape ripped off in her hands. Would be so fucking funny except for the girl who was walking in just the wrong time, wrong place and ended up with a neck snapped from the impact of the body.

Looking now, Chickie couldn’t tell whose blood was whose. It had been hours since the police had (finally) showed up, along with the fucking promised super-powered backup. She huffed out a laugh. Just in time to pull clean up duty but not nearly soon enough to actually help.

She heard Cooper’s clomping steps approaching and willed herself visible.

“I had a cape. Made from pretty blue cloth I filched from a fabric store. But what’s the point of a cape if no one ever sees it? I still have it though, somewhere. Probably in one of the boxes Tristan moved into the garage,” said Chickie when he had drawn next to her. She was staring down at her hands, which she couldn’t quite manage to unclench from around the tattered section of cape.

“Chickie-” said Cooper, his voice soft. Almost poetic, the way it contrasted with his persona as the man made of rock.

She shrugged her shoulders at the expression on Cooper’s face. Judgemental and harsh and so fucking heroic. Like something off promotional materials. _Don’t be afraid girls and boys, your city is being watched over._ Bull fucking shit. Sometimes little girls go for a walk and end up crushed into the pavement by a falling body. They should be afraid.

“Don’t even say it. Just let me tell my story, ok? I am trying to do _something_ right here.” She didn’t wait for a reply before continuing.

Chickie looked down at the ripped fabric in her hand. “I wore the cape once. Went to a bank fully intending to grab some cash and get out with no one the wiser. But apparently I wasn’t the only one with that brilliant idea. And it wasn’t even the recession, then! So instead I knocked these guys out after they pulled guns and got an invite to the league. First thing they told me was ‘lose the fucking cape.’”

“You shutting up now?” asked Cooper. “Because that was the stupidest fucking thing I ever heard.” His voice wasn’t so soft now. The tone ripped through her like one of Lydia’s lightning arrows.

“Because no matter what you think you are saying, all I am hearing is ‘I’m an awful hero, woe is me.’ And guess what, today was a fuck-up. Someone died. But look down at that fucking cape. You ripped that off him, tried to pull a man two times your size out of the air,” said Cooper. He reached out and patted her shoulder. So fucking gentle. “This isn’t on you.”

She shrugged off his hand and nodded. She didn’t actually mean it, though. Chickie just wanted him to leave her be, to fade into the bricks.

But she thought about it. Thought about what he said as she changed back into her civvies, saw her uniform folded with logo out next to a locker with her name on it. Thought about the picture she had seen in the paper one time, when the flash had caught her halfway through the change, her body translucent, shining.

However she didn’t have time to just think. Chickie had to go home and cook dinner while coming up with her cover story for the day. Had to keep her life moving, to pay bills and figure out what to do with a son who seemed to grow another inch from morning to night.

But when she sat to eat dinner with Tristan, she was able to smile.

  



End file.
